Fiddler is based on Tevye (or Tevye the Dairyman) and his daughters, a series of short stories by Solomon Rabinovich, better known by the pen-name Sholem Aleicham. The tales were inspired by Aliecham's won upbringing in imperialist Russia.

The fictional town of Anatevka is steeped in traditions established for thousands of years. The community is bound together and held steady by shared values and customs. When trouble comes, be it in the form of plauge, persecution or radical new ideas, the villagers are forced to bend, or else break.

They must find a balance between the old and the new, between tradition and progress, and learn to stretch without snapping.